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2021-06-27
Pandemic lockdown gives a new opportunity towards homeless mental health. A study from Spain
While the COVID-19 pandemic has drastically altered mental health, see https://covid-19archive.org/s/archive/page/mental-health, I hope that there could be benefits to mental health as COVID rates around the world drop. It is now more convenient than ever to partake in counseling services from the comfort of your room, especially if you have social anxiety or pandemic anxiety. Unfortunately, statistics are not out as of March 2022 that demonstrate that mental health is improving with waning COVID rates, instead counselors, psychiatrists, and psychologists seem busier than ever. While telehealth meetings are convenient, wait times and schedules are full of the backlog of people whose mental health was affected by the pandemic. I wanted to find an example of a positive outcome on mental health through COVID's global sweep, especially as COVID wanes. Attached is an example of a study in Spain that focused on a group of homeless in Spain that were in lockdown. "More than 60% of them presented mental disorders and within 8 weeks they were visited in person 2–3 times...Finally, 51.8% were linked to social and health care services and 37% to mental health resources, which can constitute a step forward in their reintegration and normalization." They argue that if it was not for COVID and these efforts, these homeless people may not have been diagnosed and helped. The paper concludes that this study is useful for the future because it shows how under immensely stressful situations, primary and secondary interventions worked. This can be repeated without a pandemic. While the pandemic was very stressful, it reaped some benefits such as a new focus on mental health, new methods of talking with trained professionals, and studied like this that show data of improving mental health in times of stress. -
2020-11-17
Punawai Rest Stop For Homelessness
KHON2 News Story on the Punawai Facility. The facility aims to help the community combat homelessness and aid those experiencing homelessness bringing hope to everyone. -
2020-04-01
Worst April Fool’s Day
My employer ended every person's contract in a zoom call, somewhere around 100 of us. We were all students. The ending of our contracts meant we all lost our housing since we worked for a university (this was before I was attending ASU). We were given until Sunday to have all of our belongings moved out and our keys returned, or we could pay the multiple thousands of dollars that on-campus housing would cost. Hardly any of us could afford that, some of my friends suddenly had to grapple with the idea that they would be in debt, broke, or homeless in a matter of four days. I was one of the lucky ones as I had a place to go. 1 sleepless night. 4 days. 4 trips back and forth. 11 ½ hours driving in silence. $20 spent on one final dinner with my friends and coworkers. $25 spent on moving supplies. $52 spent on gas. 506 miles. 11 ½ hours driving in silence. I drove in silence, I couldn’t handle trying to listen to anything. I couldn’t allow myself to hear a sad song and get caught up in it, or worse hear something happy and get upset that I wasn’t feeling that way. The sound of my tires on the poorly maintained interstate for what felt like truly endless hours is something I will never forget and is something that will never leave me. Rattling over pot holes, turn signals, avoiding other drivers, sitting in traffic, the sound of my new tires being worn in very quickly. This story is not unique. Countless people lost their jobs, lost their homes, lost their livelihoods during the initial shutdown. I was simply one of so many, but I was privileged enough to have a place to land. The sound of driving, the action of having to move, and the feeling of sadness, frustration, or loss due to a sudden change in life is something that I think is relatable for a lot of people during the pandemic. Audio description: Recording of the sound of my car taking the last exit off the highway into my town -
2021-09-22
Helping Others during Covid-19 Pandemic
This is an excerpt from a video interview with Sister Grace that I and another student in my class did for a work project. Sister Grace is the Chaplin of the Law School at St. Mary’s University. Sister Grace graduated from St. Mary’s 1978 and worked in the undergrad Ministry and by 1993-94 in Law Ministry. Sister Grace has enjoyed watching students grow and succeed to becoming great people for the community. I used this excerpt because Sister Grace is someone who helps out the students and community and during the pandemic, she met a lot of people that ere going through hard times. Her and the church got together to help distribute food and clothing to the homeless, or whoever needed aid during the pandemic. She wanted to make sure everyone in the community was taken care of. Also, she even talks about how she got plenty of time to do more things during quarantine. -
2020-03-20
The city does sleep
At the start of the pandemic, I was facing home insecurity and was living in a shelter for three months and special housing for 6 months. The city was the most empty I have ever seen it. Ive seen so many people, homeless people, because of the pandemic and it was devastating. It isolated people. -
05/03/2021
Jeff Foster Oral History, 2021/05/03
Elizabeth Hathorn interviews Jeff Foster, a college student and member of the U.S. Army. He discusses the effects of COVDI-19 on college classes and on military training. He also touches on a few other aspects of life during the COVID-19 quarantine. -
2019
Homeless and Homes
This article reports that they are over 17 million empty homes in the United States which greatly outnumbers the amount of homeless people in the country. The article then goes on to describe the location and other demographics of where these homes are. I wanted to include this article because it shows that we have the resources for people to not be homeless during the pandemic but there seems to be no incentive or interest in addressing this problem. The number of homes is so much greater and it could greatly mitigate some of the health and exposure issues homeless populations experience. This will allow me to show how homeless people are traditionally not even considered in resources. -
2021-03-30
Landlording During the Pandemic
This article discusses how despite initial assumptions that landlords may have been harmed during the Coronavirus they have actually been seeing large profits. Understanding that landlords are still earning money and turning a profit. This idea is in direct violation of the narrative that these eviction moratoriums are harmful to landlords. I wanted to include this article because I think to understand homelessness you also have to understand property ownership and landlording. I'll use the article to provide examples about how the homelessness experienced during the pandemic was preventable and how the pandemic has been kinder to landlords than to homeless people. -
2021-03-28
Arizona Department of Housing
The two main parts of this website are eviction protection and foreclosure protection. The eviction and foreclosure programs have become more robust as a result of the pandemic and the way that it has put more strain on people's housing situations. The site also has a specific section regarding assistance specific to the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID health focuses on mortgage assistance for homeowners. There seem to be some gaps on this site for renters who typically have closer proximity to housing instability and would need more assistance ensuring that they don't experience homelessness. I want to specifically examine the gaps that this site has and the specific type of assistance that it does offer. -
2021
Housing Resources Tempe
I chose this article because it provides a list of housing resources for Tempe. The resources covered here are section 8 housing and other rental assistance programs. The city has its own stated homeless assistance program. In their section for COVID-19 assistance. Specifically, in the COVID-19 section, it states that there will no longer be in-person meetings due to safety reasons and that things will either be done over the phone or online. For my research, I want to focus on how these measures leave behind a lot of people who may not have access to a phone or internet and how that exacerbates the issues people experience with housing instability because they are unable to get resources. I want to really focus on processes with this resource. -
2020-08-17
Community Paramedics Help Protect Homeless Populations from Covid
This article discusses the use of community paramedics in the Covid-19 prevention efforts for San Diego's homeless population. Community paramedics are specifically trained paramedics that shift their focus from the treatment/transport to the hospital model, to a home-care model where the patient receives treatment and stays at home. In this case, they are being used to staff clinics at homeless shelters to provide care and Covid testing to their homeless population. The article references a 2017 hepatitis A outbreak in their homeless population and how that event has influenced the efforts during Covid to prevent a major homeless population Covid-19 outbreak. The article also explains the complexities of running these clinics but that it is worthwhile to aid a community that is among the most vulnerable to Covid. -
2020-09
Socially Separated Sandwiches
During the fall of 2020, a local homeless shelter was unable to offer beds to people in need during the COVID pandemic due to space and resource restrictions. It was hard to witness these organizations meant to help people also need extra love and help during the pandemic whether it be for medical, physical, or financial reasons. In response to the need, my church was able to step up to make sandwiches that the shelter could hand out to the people living on the streets that they were unable to serve at the time. We wore masks, took extra safety precautions, and socially distanced in an assembly style line outside in the church parking lot where we made packages of chips and sandwiches. While working together to make the sandwiches for the homeless shelter, I was reminded that we are still a community even when we cannot be together in the same ways we were before the pandemic. Finding pockets of community in the turbulent pandemic has been a blessing and chance for me to truly appreciate those around me and think of different ways that I can reach out to the community and be a part of it despite the circumstances. Distance did not have to mean silence and stillness. People were able to help in any way possible. If they were unable to help make the sandwiches, they prayed for the mission or donated money for the supplies. People shared what they could and came together when it mattered the most. This story highlights how even in times where we stayed apart to remain safe, we were still able to come together in another way to support each other. Communities didn't have to disappear during the pandemic, and this is just one example of their power to persevere in dark times. -
2021-02-07
Hungry in a Pandemic - Food Banks
The numbers of people with food insecurities in 2020 include some scary statistics. The BBC wrote that one in eight Americans didn’t have enough food in the month of November, 2020. Feeding America said one in every six Americans would face food insecurity. Some people are getting creative, like a food bank in Illinois that started out online, providing a sort of online grocery shopping, but for free. Hunger has been a world-wide problem for a long time, and is something I would like to see ended in my life time. However, during this pandemic, when many more people began facing economic hardships, we see different outcomes. Some people are trying to make changes and help more vulnerable people, like some of the stories you can find on foodbanknews.org. Unfortunately, there are still many people facing the fact that they do not know when their next meal will come from. It isn’t a food problem, it is a society problem. -
2021-02-07
Homelessness During a Pandemic
A population that gets put last for many things is not going to be completely last for the COVID vaccine. Each individual US state is in charge of the vaccine distribution, but some states, like Connecticut for example, have homeless shelters and similar places under the “congregate settings” part of the vaccine rollout, typically in the first few phases. The homeless population is far too high in the US, and during the COVID pandemic, not much more than the bare minimum has been done. The CDC and many other health organizations have the homeless and other vulnerable populations written into the big picture, with guides and recourses for cities and governments. However, these vulnerable populations are high risk during this pandemic. Food banks have seen a major rise in 2020 as more people are facing economic hardships. Attached are a few related articles. While there are some people working tirelessly to improve the homeless situation in the US, more needs to be done. The articles give a glimpse into the various aspects of the homeless crisis in America, and how we are trying to help during the pandemic, but simultaneously not doing enough. -
2021-01-29
Dear Future Generations
This story tells about the experience of one young person during the pandemic, and their perspective on the future. I wanted to include this to highlight the perspective of young people, and especially to highlight how I am not satisfied with just going back to normal. -
12/03/2020
Aidan McNaughton Oral History, 2020/12/03
Washington county in Oregon has established several COVID-19 quarantine centers in an attempt to limit the spread of the virus among the community. A number of local motels have been converted to such facilities. Aidan is an EMT at one such motel, and agreed to be interviewed about his experience. -
2020-10-01
Marcellus Morris, Community Organizer and Diversion Counselor
Marcellus Morris is a community organizer and diversion counselor in Hempstead, NY. Through Reign 4 Life and other initiatives, he works with at-risk youth toward -
2020-10-18
The Summer of Stress
In the days following my graduation from community college in 2015, I fulfilled my lifelong pursuit of procrastination and let my apartment lease run out without securing a new residence. The two weeks of couch surfing and car sleeping which followed surely taught me a lesson in preparedness. I never thought I would be in a situation where I would lose my job and home. in 2015, I still had a job. I had friends who could take me in and help me re-establish; it is easier to continue work and remain healthy when sleeping indoors and enjoying hot showers daily. But in 2020, the story is different. My friends could still take me in; many urged me to. But the pandemic put a weight on my mind that I was not safe to stay with my friends; and I couldn't stay with one friend for a long time (and therefore minimize new contact). I am incredibly afraid that I could harm my friends' families because of the pandemic. Then my job as a cashier at a 7-Eleven by the Orange County Airport was lost because the travel and traffic in the airport area dropped drastically as lockdowns and travel restrictions began; many stores in the area closed. I waited all of summer before I applied for assistance. I kept thinking it would be like the two weeks in 2015; but this was not just my own negligence as a procrastinator, this was my own fault compounded by the pandemic. As the method of my hygiene (24 Hour Fitness) closed, I truly felt the weight of stress on my mind. No more daily hot showers. Luckily my mobile residence, my car, allows me to sleep near the cold showers of the beach. Luckily the YMCA has begun phased re-opening, and I began showering there end of September when I could afford the membership. I am still without a job, and without a permanent residence. It was impossible to manage what money I still have, because eating as a homeless person is not cheap; hot food costs far more money than grocery bought. I had to use my friend's address to even get EBT/food stamps; this is why the homeless folk who are less fortunate than me, who no longer have friends pursuing their safety with them, suffer. There is no address for EBT to send them the food stamps, or they as people in need simply have no friends who can help them shoulder the stress of bad fortune and extreme circumstances. -
2020-08-29
Homeless in Tempe
As I was driving on Saturday morning, I saw a panhandler at the corner of Priest and the 201 exit. A female cop was talking to her, I was afraid that maybe the cop was telling the woman not to beg or to move, but I saw the woman in the same spot a few hours later. The cop was wearing a face mask. There have been, subjectively, a lot more homeless people on the streets lately. -
04/13/2020
Cultural Insights: Interviews in the Creative Sector #19 … Noah Stubbs, City of Evansville
In response to COVID-19, the Evansville Museum of Arts, History and Science launched the mini-series, "Cultural Insights: Interviews in the Creative Sector," to highlight colleagues and professionals working in the same or similar field of museum professionals. -
05/24/2020
Malesia Lyles Oral History, 2020/05/24
An incomplete interview with Malesia. Malesia Lyles tells the story of the illness in her family from November 2019 through March 2020, and the steps she went through to get medical help. This involves themes of racism, homelessness, shelters, education, and children. -
2020-07-06
Socially Distanced Homeless Encampments, San Francisco City Hall
The San Francisco Chronicle profiled social distanced homeless encampments in front of the cities City Hall. These encampments were designed in an attempt to reduce the spread of COVID-19 amongst San Francisco's vulnerable homeless population. The caption for the photo on Instagram reads: "In May, a city-sanctioned homeless encampment was set up using social distancing rectangles at S.F.’s Civic Center. The Bay Area’s homeless crisis was severe before the coronavirus, and the pandemic seems certain to make things worse. Now the fight is urgent to keep those on the street from dying, and from seeing the homeless population proliferate to unimaginable numbers. But could there be a silver lining? Optimistic experts and program managers say a ravaged economy might actually be good for helping the homeless. A struggling real estate market could free up distressed properties that governments could buy or lease to use as homeless shelters and housing. The shock of millions of Americans losing jobs, homes and health insurance could trigger a wave of New Deal-style government programs to lift the poor." -
2020-07-06
Homeless advocates relaunch lawsuit over COVID-19 safety at Toronto shelters, say city hasn’t complied with settlement
"Toronto’s homeless advocates have relaunched a lawsuit against the city over unsafe shelter conditions. "In a notice of motion filed Friday, a coalition of public-interest groups alleges that the city has failed to follow a settlement agreement meant to ensure physical distancing standards within the shelter system. "The lawsuit, first launched earlier this year, alleges the city put people’s lives at risk amid the pandemic by not following public health distancing recommendations." -
2020-06-16
Here’s a look inside Austin’s COVID-19 isolation facility
Austin, the capital of Texas is offering hotel accommodations at no cost to allow people to isolate themselves if they have covid or are waiting on test results. -
2020-06-26
An Act of Kindness
Street photographer, Alex Stemplewski, decided to gift a mask and $100 to homeless people he encountered in San Francisco. This video shows Alex's generosity and the genuine gratitude of the recipients of this act of kindness. Many people in the video are masked reminding the viewer of the presence of the COVID-19 pandemic. -
2020-03-20
The Coronavirus Effect
This TikTok video features Jon Stich creating coronavirus inspired artwork for Politico. This art piece features a figure on a hoverboard carrying a pack of toilet paper. The toilet paper is streaming out of the package and in the background are two other figures that appear to be homeless. Near the figures in the background are a tent, a shopping cart, and various bags. This scene takes place in front of buildings with iconic San Francisco architecture. The art speaks to the increased inequities of coronavirus on vulnerable populations. There are portions of the population hoarding toilet paper, while there are others without access to these basic necessities. How will COVID-19 impact San Francisco's homeless population? -
2020-06-03
NYC Woman on the Destruction by Protesters of Low-Income Housing
Her frustration and pain are evident in every movement, and word she speaks. -
2020-06-11
Supports for homeless people fight infection: How the Shepherds of Good Hope put the brakes on a COVID-19 outbreak
This in-depth newspaper piece discusses how the Ottawa Inner City Health organization and the city's 4 largest homeless shelters: The Shepherds of Good Hope, The Ottawa Mission, the Salvation Army, and Cornerstone Housing for Women, prepared for and have been seeking to limited the spread of and treat Covid-19 infections among the vulnerable homeless population. The Shepherds of Good Hope experiences an outbreak (an 'outbreak' is a cluster of cases which occurs within an institution and requires specific responses by the institution under law) but due to the protocols in place, it was limited and ended quickly. A highlight of the article is the anecdote regarding masked. While Ottawa Inner City Health was not provided with the PPE it initially ordered due to a mix up regarding their place in the queue for supplies during a shortage. However, masks, specifically, did not end up being an issue, as the Salvation Army found a palette of unused N-95 masks it had ordered during the 2009 H1N1 epidemic and which had been forgotten in the back of their loading dock for those 11 years. The palette contained 10,000 masks which were then shared among the various centres. -
2020-04-22
Jan Fran- Text From Facebook Post
I have included Jan Fran’s name in this only because the facebook post was public and she is an established political commentator, but I was somewhat anxious about publishing her words in this way. When I first saw this facebook post it honestly probably took me about a week to get over my sheer rage at the amount of money Jeff Bezos has personally made profiting from the pandemic, which wouldn’t be so bad if it weren’t for that fact that his personal wealth is so staggeringly incomprehensible already. I read the other day that he has pledged a billion dollars to charities in the wake of coronavirus, which is just under a third of his personal wealth. How is it that one man can accept brownie points for donating a billion dollars in a context when he can justify keeping nearly two billion dollars in personal wealth while income inequality is a driving force in the deaths of over a hundred thousand people in his own country alone. How can anyone can claim to have ‘earned’ or ‘deserve’ such a staggering amount of money in a world rocked by a global pandemic is just so incomprehensible. Jan’s point about this false trade-off between the health of the economy and safety, which is made on so many levels above and beyond public health in a pandemic (because funding free education is bad for the economy rather than billionaires) is so striking, and I can only hope there are enough people who are more disgusted with the two billion dollars Jeff Bezos decided to keep than there are wanting to pat him on the back for donating the one billion. -
2020-06-01
El Salvador: COVID-19 & Tropical Storm Amanda
The photograph is one of many of the aftermath of Tropical Storm Amanda in Central America, specifically El Salvador. Due to COVID-19 pandemic, the country's president has enforced strict quarantine measures. The smallest country in Central America has recently been hit with a tropical storm resulting in many landslides and destruction of homes. Many have been displaced and are having a hard time finding food. -
2020-06-01
City of Kingston - No Forced Evictions at Belle Park Petition
Petition to halt the removal of a homeless encampment in a Kingston park. The eviction is not occurring entirely because of the pandemic but was moved up with the rationale of health concerns. -
2020-05-30
LGBT: Covid-19 forced me back home where I'm 'unwanted'
This short video discusses the plight of a LGBTQ person who is forced to return to an unaccepting home environment after losing her job due to the pandemic. This is another example of the ways that Covid-19 has impacted the LGBTQ community in struggles unique to the community. I never even thought about this as a potential problem because I am fortunate enough to have a family that accepts me for who I am. It makes me worry for LGBTQ youth who were able to move out on their own and get away from a toxic home life. -
2020-05-26
Homeless being turned away as cool weather pushes Safe Space shelter to capacity
As Tasmanians, saturated in the flood of online media content, look on at the state of the world, feelings range from extreme anxiety, compassion with those in crisis centres, to smug repose (“at least we are not in that country”). This last response seems particularly rife today, but it struggles to conceal an inherent coldness which we don’t otherwise normally like to attribute to ourselves. Not only does this attitude overlook that fact that we have our own dead, or that the cost of life is of a value that far outpaces numerical value (comparing our figures with death-tolls in other places), we ignore those without home in the very place in which all of us are meant to dwell together. Prior to the lockdown, Tasmania’s capital city Hobart underwent a housing crisis. But as we wait on Canberra to get things moving along - exactly as they were before or, even better than before - we should keep in mind that not everything is possible just because money is behind it. To return to the housing crisis: this challenges all of us to think about our responsibility towards those forgotten in our own home. Genuine responsibility begins with compassion, not money. I feel like, too often, we reverse the formula. -
04/02/2020
Kurt Boone New York City Covid 19 Photo Collection #3
Homeless person brings his personal belongings on empty subway car in New York City . -
2020-05-06
Coronavirus crisis: Here's why SF officials are giving homeless alcohol, tobacco
This news story highlights the reasons for San Francisco's homeless substance distribution policy during the COVID-19 pandemic. https://perma.cc/YK5B-SWBP -
04/28/2020
A Picture of New York City in Crisis
A link to an article from Photography Collections Preservation Project about New York City essential delivery person, artist and poet Kurt Boone. As Boone travels through New York City making his deliveries, he photographs the city during the pandemic. The first paragraphs of the article relate the project: "A bustling city once teeming with urbanites on crowded sidewalks and in jam-packed subway cars comes to a grinding halt. Save an eerie silence made more deafening by the occasional ambulance siren, the events of the city beyond our apartment walls are largely left to the imagination. For most, this has been the picture of New York City ever since Governor Andrew Cuomo’s shelter-in-place order effectively shut it down in late March and indefinitely altered daily life for millions. A smaller population of New Yorkers, however, have been uniquely privy to public life in the age of the coronavirus pandemic. This is the case for the many essential employees currently working in New York City including messenger and street photographer Kurt Boone. Every morning at 7:30 A.M., Kurt Boone–a veteran New York City courier of over 20 years–prepares for a full day of making essential deliveries around the five boroughs. After checking the news for the latest coronavirus updates before leaving his New Jersey apartment, Boone arrives at the World Trade Center in Manhattan only to greet a different city each day. In the U.S. epicenter of the COVID-19 crisis, around 1,000 new coronavirus patients are admitted to hospitals daily. More and more quintessential New York establishments shutter their doors, and the gripping effects of this crisis are increasingly felt by all. Worse, there is no clear end in sight. For Boone, these scenes of strife and desolation are “surreal and depressing.” As a longtime documentarian of urban culture, Boone feels a responsibility to show the world how this pandemic is unfolding in New York City. " -
2020-05-21
The San Francisco Bay Area is putting homeless people with COVID-19 in hotel rooms. Some are given alcohol to prevent withdrawal.
This is a news article that details how San Francisco is managing their homeless population during the COVID-19 outbreak. Based on CDC recommendations, San Francisco secured hotel rooms to provide shelter to their homeless population. The project is called "Project Roomkey." Additionally, under a "harm reduction" strategy, the city is providing alcohol and access to purchase medical cannabis to prevent withdrawals for addicts who may otherwise leave the provide shelters to retrieve said substances. The article highlights similar measures across the Bay Area. -
2020-05-21
An photograph on Reddit showing downtown LA.
I've been interested in finding out how people are faring downtown Los Angeles, CA where there is a large homeless population. This image was shared on the r/losangeles subreddit of Reddit.com. It is striking to me because it shows how homeless are still out on the streets during the pandemic, making their rough situation even worse. -
2020-04-01
“I would say that it hasn't affected my faith or beliefs in any kind of..."
“I would say that it hasn't affected my faith or beliefs in any kind of drastic way. I've always grown up going to church and I still feel the same about my church and about my religious beliefs and God and I don't think that this pandemic was something sent by God to smite us or that we are being ignored by any kind of higher being or something for this happening. I think that just stuff happens and you know faith and science are two separate things.” -
2020-04
"Well it stops me from being able to go to church and pray to my god."
"Well it stops me from being able to go to church and pray to my god." "No, it strengthened my beliefs." "We we gather uh the priest does like a Zoom meeting for us so that we can still get together spiritually and pray to our God." "Well since we're not doing community service and feeding the homeless in our community..." -
2020-05-06
Initial Findings on Covid-19 in New York: Staying home may be putting people at risk.
The source includes testimony of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo regarding the present statistics of Covid-19 in New York. The evidence is shocking because as the government tries to determine how the virus is spreading, they uncover most of the hospitalized population to be those who were quarantined at home and non-essential. The homeless. the jailed, the essential workers, and even the users of public transportation were of the lowest percentage of hospitalized people. The early data begs the question: Is staying at home the best way to fight the pandemic? #CSUS #HIST15H -
2020-04-26
The Awakening
The awakening of the collective; mind, body, soul and the beginning of the end of industrial society - a New World Order I was living and working casually at a children's outdoor education centre one day I was sitting on my sofa the next I was on the street. Week 1 - all casuals laid off Week 2 - All full-time staff cut back to half hours Week 3 - all staff living on centre given eviction within 72 hours Week 4 - homelessness and couch surfing Week 5 - Self Isolation & Family Week 6 - Family Feuds & Domestic Violence Week 7 - A run in with Police whilst living out of my Car Week 8 - My own place new beginnings Although life has thrown many curveballs I struggle with mental illness and addiction - now the world knows how it is to feel in social isolation - depressed, alone, unmotivated, unwanted, uninspired and ironically for those of us who have lived with mental illness our entire lives are no longer alone in our suffering. I shaved my head to symbolise being reborn into a new world order - one of hope, health, compassion and understanding with the soul & spirit being central to our livelihood. -
2020-05-03
Selfie in my mask making area
This is my makeshift mask making area. I can take credit for only about 10 of them but as of today the mask sewing group I am a part of has sewn 675 masks for people in 4 different states, for elder care facilities, homeless people and a juvenile psychiatric facility. The group is made up of members of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Spartanburg. You can see pipe cleaners and floral wire for nose pieces and elastic for ear bands plus my ever present Mio energy drink to keep going! Our group trades material like fabric, wires and elastic as shortages of these items affect one member or another. -
2020-04-10
Feeding the Neighborhood
COVID-19 has been particularly hard for Chicago’s homeless. My auntie and I tried to help out on the West Side, by making turkey and Italian beef and serving them. We also provided kits to individuals, so they could use them to feed their families. #DePaulHST391 -
2020-03-12
A Dose of Reality
This one email changed everything. Every student and staff member at Central Connecticut State University received this email from the President of the University, Zulma Toro. In it, she describes the possibility that a student at the university might have been infected with the virus and that she has closed the campus because of the danger. Almost every university student around the country has some sort of email like this and it was one of the most frightening emails we've ever received in our lives. It changed everything. Students were forced to leave campus in two hours and left many of their belongings behind. Those items left in the dorm rooms are now being packed up and moved to storage containers as CT National Guard Troopers and Medical Staff are staying in the empty dorms to support efforts to fight the pandemic. All classes were canceled and shifted to online learning for the rest of the semester. In one quick email students were deprived of relationships with friends and staff and thrust into a world of unknowns. Some students who relied on campus housing and food were left homeless and without basic means to support themselves. All in the space fo two hours. Before this email, you could say Coronavirus was just something in the news that didn't effect our lives, but after this email, we all got a dose of reality. We couldn't live our lives the same way anymore. The ignorance was gone. -
2020-04-10
Feeding The Neighborhood
This image is a collage of my aunt preparing Italian beefs for the people in the neighborhood more so the homeless since many of the restaurants are closed. We gave out plates on the West side of Chicago. -
2020-04-01
Landlord left a list of homeless shelters
The tweet shows a picture of a list of homeless shelters the twitter users landlord displayed on their doors. This is due to financial issues for many. Many people were unable to pay rent due to being laid off for jobs. The person replying to the tweet expresses outrage that the landlord is not willing to make an exception since this is in the middle of the pandemic. -
2020-04-11
Homeless children and #DíaDeLaNiñezEnElPerú
#DíaDeLaNiñezEnElPerú Niñez y adolescencia demandan una protección especial durante el #EstadoDeEmergencia, especialmente, niñas/os en situación de calle, con discapacidad, indígenas, migrantes, víctimas de violencia, entre otras/os. Right pointing backhand index https://bit.ly/3a1ubyL -
2020-03-30
Tweet re: treatment of Las Vegas Homeless During Pandemic
Tweet reacting to the news that with the closure of a major homeless shelter in the city, the Las Vegas, NV and Clark County governments had agreed to set up a makeshift shelter by drawing separate squares on an open-air parking lot. #HIST5241 -
2020-03-30
Hoarding
Before everything happened in the United States, as an international student from China, I have been searching for helpful tips for my family suffering this disaster back in China. And at that time, I would not imagine this virus spreading across the Atlantic and starting affecting everyone around the globe. One early morning, my father called me through WeChat and urged me to purchase masks, gloves, and all possible hygiene products and buy as much storable foods as possible, because, he said "the virus is spreading across the United States, and you have to be prepared". I was not taken his words seriously at first, but as he sent over more and more messages, I started buying stuff little by little from the local grocery stores, and as I realize my absurd hoarding, the COVID-19 erupted. As my friends were laughing at my over-nervousness and me feeling confused and embarrassed for the seemingly unnecessary over-reacting, more and more people were tested positive, and the price for all necessary goods skyrockets. As people in the United States started buying stuff and lining up in front of the local markets, more heartbreaking stories were reported such as "woman in domestic violence were threatened to be thrown out once they cough", and "homeless man could not purchase any food". The violence under the violence is what scared me and made me panic. I have given away much foods and products I have hoarded to take care of others, and hopefully we all can live through this crisis peacefully and stay healthy.